The hunt for alien life

[lord bunberry]

It’s a subject that absolutely fascinates me. The universe is so vast that that intelligent life must exist, even if it’s not widespread. What bothers me is our way of looking, we search for radio waves, what if other civilisations don’t commicate that way?

[Bangkok Hibby]

It’s a subject that absolutely fascinates me. The universe is so vast that that intelligent life must exist, even if it’s not widespread. What bothers me is our way of looking, we search for radio waves, what if other civilisations don’t commicate that way?

What would you suggest we use? We can only utilise the science we know. Like you I firmly believe there are lifeforms out there. Hope there's "verifiable and acknowledged" contact in my lifetime and not just Discovery channel type stories.

[Moulin Yarns]

I'd like to flag up the possibility of using semaphore. :wink:

[lord bunberry]

What would you suggest we use? We can only utilise the science we know. Like you I firmly believe there are lifeforms out there. Hope there's "verifiable and acknowledged" contact in my lifetime and not just Discovery channel type stories.
I know we can only use what’s available, but it feels like we’re putting all our eggs in one basket. I watched a show recently that suggested that intelligent societies will only have a lifespan of around 100000 years as that’s how long it would take before they either destroyed themselves or their planet. If that’s true it would make contact virtually impossible.

[Andy74]

It’s a subject that absolutely fascinates me. The universe is so vast that that intelligent life must exist, even if it’s not widespread. What bothers me is our way of looking, we search for radio waves, what if other civilisations don’t commicate that way?

There has to be life somewhere but the distances are unfathomable.

No matter how advanced civilisations might become I’m not sure the limitations of physics can be overcome to travel the distances required.

Are radio waves not a bit of a constant in that just about everything emits some form of waves that can be captured?

[Peevemor]

It's funny that there isn't substantially more footage of UFO's given the billions of smartphones/cameras being carried at all times across the planet.

I appreciate that this doesn't mean that there isn't life elsewhere. If I had to give an answer I'd say that there probably is, but possibly in forms that we might not even understand as being life.

[The Modfather]

Part of me would love to discover alien life, there’s also the pessimistic part of me that is happy living in blissful ignorance. Discovering alien life then leads to worries about how vulnerable we might be to hostile advanced civilisations.

[Billy Whizz]

It's funny that there isn't substantially more footage of UFO's given the billions of smartphones/cameras being carried at all times across the planet.

I appreciate that this doesn't mean that there isn't life elsewhere. If I had to give an answer I'd say that there probably is, but possibly in forms that we might not even understand as being life.

Is there any footage thats been verified as 100%

[NORTHERNHIBBY]

This is a fascinating subject. There must be life of some sorts elsewhere. What always intrigues me about Science Fiction is that the stories are always satirising about how we can't get on as one species and live in harmony on the one tiny planet. Maybe the subject needs to move away from space craft and hostile aliens wanting to invade.

[Moulin Yarns]

Is there any footage thats been verified as 100%

Mars Attack: The Documentary.

👽👾

[J-C]

Is there any footage thats been verified as 100%

No footage can be verified unless it's footage of an alien landing and actually climbing out its craft. Like all footage it's speculation and you have to take the persons word for it. There's lots of governmental footage from all over the world that comes out now and the, the History channel has a couple of shows relating to this, very interesting. A programme called Ancient Aliens is quite eye opening, regards ancient structures, civilisations etc.

Like most of this stuff I tend to be open minded, millions of people who see and hear things can't all be loopy.

[Moulin Yarns]

No footage can be verified unless it's footage of an alien landing and actually climbing out its craft. Like all footage it's speculation and you have to take the persons word for it. There's lots of governmental footage from all over the world that comes out now and the, the History channel has a couple of shows relating to this, very interesting. A programme called Ancient Aliens is quite eye opening, regards ancient structures, civilisations etc.

Like most of this stuff I tend to be open minded, millions of people who see and hear things can't all be loopy.

Reminds me of a book I read decades ago.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chariots_of_the_Gods%3F

[Billy Whizz]

Mars Attack: The Documentary.

👽👾

I’ll dig it out

[heretoday]

If aliens made contact people would go mad. We wouldn't be able to handle it.

[Hibrandenburg]

If aliens made contact people would go mad. We wouldn't be able to handle it.

It would give Nigel Farage a whole new lease of life.

[HibbyDave]

I think it’s arrogant in the extreme to believe that humanity is the only intelligent life form in the multitude of galaxies known to us ( never mind all the places we don’t know about).

Quantum physics may supply the answer in future or maybe Philip Pullman is nearer the truth with His Dark materials.

[Sylar]

Opened this thread expecting something about a pub crawl through Gorgie :greengrin

Had the chance to visit SETI's HQ a couple of years ago (it's based not far from where I live when I'm Stateside) and it's fascinating to see some of the things that are going on in the search for extraterrestrial life.

[Moulin Yarns]

I think it’s arrogant in the extreme to believe that humanity is the only intelligent life form in the multitude of galaxies known to us ( never mind all the places we don’t know about).

Quantum physics may supply the answer in future or maybe Philip Pullman is nearer the truth with His Dark materials.

Intelligent life form you say?? 🤔

[Pretty Boy]

There was an Oxford study recently that suggested if intelligent life as we know it on earth is typical it's highly likely we may be alone in the universe.

It worked on the statistical possibilities of all the flukes it took to create intelligent life on earth and calculated how likely it was to happen elsewhere. It also pointed out it took 4.5 billion years for intelligent life to appear on earth, about 4/5s of the way through our planet expected lifespan. Humans are essentially living through the twilight years of earth.

I suppose you could argue that it's arrogant to assume we are alone. There is vast swathes of the universe we have never explored or observed. However we can observe about 13.67 billion light years from earth and have 100 billion stars in our own galaxy to focus on and the suggestion of intelligent life elsewhere is almost non existent. We may well have company in the universe but it would seem we are quite rare.

[lord bunberry]

The most famous attempt to quantify this is the Drake equation. It’s probably a bit outdated now, but it’s still the only attempt at trying to put a figure on this.